Are digital cameras on their last legs?

This year got off to a rough start for digital cameras. The UK’s most established high street camera specialist, Jessops, went into administration, largely down to poor sales in this cameraphone world and better bargains online.

I don’t see 2013 getting any less gloomy for the big camera manufacturers, and the ‘innovations’ coming out of CES 2013 didn’t change my mind.

CES 2013: digital camera innovations fall flat

CES hosted all the predictable updates to the latest cameras. They’re smaller, they’re ‘touch screenier’, they’re waterproof to greater depths, and they have more wi-fi than your nearest Starbucks. But are any of these innovations truly enough to revive sales of compact cameras?

Let’s start with wi-fi cameras. Wireless connectivity will not be the saviour of compact cameras. Why? Because all you can really do with a wi-fi camera is upload your photos straight to Facebook. You can’t use your fancy wi-fi-enabled camera to browse the web, play games, make Skype calls, or anything else that smartphones have been doing for years now.

Touchscreen cameras? To me, a touchscreen isn’t a natural fit for taking snaps. However, touchscreens are cheaper than ever to make now, so why not slap one on the back of the camera? Oh, I know why not, because you’re left with a baffling little box of a device like the newly-unveiled Canon PowerShot N. I’m all for innovation if it leaves you with a genuinely useful product, but I don’t think Canon’s square snapper fits the bill.

Waterproof cameras? They’re definitely great things, and I welcome the idea of Sony introducing a more affordable one. But Panasonic and Olympus have unveiled cameras that can go to depths of 14 metres. That’s lovely for keen divers with £349 to spare, but that’s a pretty niche market they’re targeting, and not one that will prop up dwindling camera sales.

High-end cameras holding off smartphones

There’s still one section of the market that cameraphones can’t eat into, and that’s high-end cameras like DSLRs and compact system cameras (CSCs).

Sales of CSCs ought to keep on rising this year, particularly if prices finally begin to settle to a more sensible level. But sales of high-end cameras won’t be enough to revive the flagging fortunes of camera manufacturers, who’ve taken a serious hit with the rise of cameraphones.

Myself, I hardly ever use my cameraphone. I like taking my time composing a shot properly (and yes, that means using a viewfinder), and I don’t think I’ve ever felt the need to post a photo straight on to the web.

But I know I’m not typical, compared to the millions of people snapping away on cameraphones every day. And from what I saw coming out of Las Vegas, I don’t think the big camera manufacturers have hit upon anything that will truly entice the cameraphone crowd.